Bridge dedicated to late township philanthropist

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The bridge stretching across Bottle Run on Lycoming Creek Road was named Friday morning as the John Gross Memorial Bridge, in memory of the late township resident who died in 2005.

Old Lycoming Township supervisors dedicated the bridge to the former community contributor and proprietor of Gross's Tire Center, a business in the small plaza - also owned by the Gross family - that sits adjacent to the bridge at 2051 Lycoming Creek Road.

"This is something we don't often have," Supervisor John Eck said. "(We) appreciate the fact that there is someone we can do this for."

Township Manager Linda Mazzullo said this is the first time an event like this has taken place, and to have had it happen is "a wonderful honor."

"We're all proud to be a part of it," Mazzullo added.

Patricia Gross, Gross's wife, was awarded with a citation from State Rep. Rick Mirabito, D-Williamsport.

Patricia said her husband would be humbled and appreciative if he was alive today to accept the dedication. She added her husband was a quiet, reserved man who worked from sun-up to sun-down, and always willing to make contributions to help enable the growth of the township.

Both Patricia and Jim Herb, a former owner of the now-defunct Auto Salon that also sits next to the bridge, said the philanthropist was a "self-appointed foreman and supervisor" during the bridge's replacement several years ago.

"He was here on a daily basis," Patricia said.

Herb said Gross could often be seen, with his foot up - sometimes with oxygen tubes threaded into his nose - "supervising" the construction.

"He was here (as part of the township) longer than most of us have been alive," Herb said.

Herb wrote a letter to the supervisors three years ago to the supervisors with the idea of dedicating the bridge to Gross, Mazzullo said, and with the help of then-state Rep. Steven W. Cappelli and Mirabito, it came to pass.

Standing beneath the reflective sign with her husband's name stenciled across its surface, Patricia said: "The whole thing is just awesome."

When asked what it will be like to drive across the bridge that memorializes her husband, Patricia took another quick look up at the sign.

"It's going to be something," she said.